Riley, St. Joe stepping up

January 06, 2006|TIM CREASON Tribune Correspondent

SOUTH BEND -- There is no question that the Riley and St. Joseph's wrestling teams have come a long way in the past few years. And there can equally be no doubt that they've still got a long ways to go. Riley, once a doormat in the Northern Indiana Conference, is now competitive with most of the league. While the Wildcats are no match for, say, Mishawaka or Penn, they can at least hold their own against everyone else. And St. Joseph's, which used to forfeit four or five weight classes every match due to a lack of numbers, can at least fill all the spots in its lineup. That may not sound like much, but no matter how you look at it, that's a step in the right direction. "The next step is to keep everybody out next year," says St. Joseph's coach Kevin McKim, whose team was thrashed Thursday night by Riley, 64-9. "We've got a lot of young kids and we spend a lot of time on fundamentals," says McKim. "Give these kids some experience and a year in the weight room, and next season could be pretty nice." Of course, next season is still a year away, and one team enjoying this current campaign is Riley, which improved to 5-4 with its easy victory on the Indians' floor. "I'm pretty pleased with what I'm seeing right now, especially from our freshmen," said coach Bill Flatt. "We're starting to understand how to wrestle and what it takes to win. I'm not predicting any miracles, but if these (young) guys will stick together and work hard for a couple years, they may be surprised at how competitive they can be." The Wildcats were plenty competitive Thursday, winning 12 of 14 weight classes, including eight by pin. At least the Wildcats had to work hard for their wins, most of the time, which is another good sign for St. Joseph's. Consider the night's feature match: At 152, Riley senior Mike Robertson improved his season record to 19-5 with a hard-fought 8-1 win over St. Joseph's senior Matt Talley (12-4). It was a defensive struggle, with Robertson scoring a takedown and nearfall late in the second period to take control. He iced the decision with another takedown right before the final buzzer. "Talley is a leader, both by example and verbally, so that was a tough loss for us," said McKim. "Robertson is pretty good, though." The Wildcats were also pretty good at 103, where Miguel Perez pancaked his opponent for a fall in 26 seconds; at 112, where Leonard Simpson collected two takedowns and four nearfalls before sticking Chet Boal in 2:46; at 119, where Trace Hall won by pin, and at 125, where Kenny Grenert closed out his match with a 37 second fall over Exavier Wigfall. Prior to that, Flatt was delighted with the performance of his inexperienced middle weight corps. "Our freshmen winning tonight; four of them. That really makes me happy," said Flatt. Riley 215-pounder George Malone, who pinned Indian senior Nick Everett in 1:19 to mathematically end the contest, couldn't have been happier with his teammates' efforts. "We're getting a lot better," said Malone, who finished fourth at last week's Al Smith Invitational in the 189 class. "Our freshmen are making tough adjustments and that's making the whole lineup stronger." St. Joseph's victories came at 171, where Eric Boal won by fall, and at 140, where John Concannon scored an escape with one second remaining to edge Kyle Ullery, 5-4. 103: Miguel Perez (R) pinned Rahul Patel, 0:26. 112: Leonard Simpson (R) pinned Chet Boal, 2:46. 119: Trace Hall (R) pinned Elliott Wigfall, 2:38. 125: Kenny Grenert (R) pinned Exavier Wigfall, 0:37. 130: Tyler Lymburner (R) pinned Shane Glad, 0:52. 135: Corey Woolet (R) dec. Mike Wisniewski, 12-8. 140: John Concannon (SJ) dec. Kyle Ullery, 5-4. 145: Ben Sirko (R ) maj. dec. Adam Arsenault, 8-0. 152: Mike Robertson (R) dec. Matt Talley, 8-1. 160: Kyle Broockerd (R) pinned Ryan Pogotis, 0:31. 171: Eric Boal (SJ) pinned Ian Wiand, 3:51. 189: Harry Simpson (R) pinned Dustin Lauer, 1:42. 215: George Malone (R) pinned Nick Everett, 1:19. 275: Mike Palmer (R) won by forfeit. Official: Bob Foster.